Claim: "Shocking boxing news: Imane Khelif has been banned for life after the WBO recognized him as a man, losing all his medals and $25 million in prize money."

This Facebook post was published by user Koa Smith, a professional surfer from Hawaii with around half a million followers. The post, published on March 14, has received more than 80,000 interactions.

DW Fact check: False

DW requested clarification from the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

"No, she is recognized as a female," reads a written statement from the Organization dated March 19.

"World Boxing is in the process of evaluating gender variation rules and any subsequent rule changes will be made in due course," it added.

Not the first time she has been the target of false reports

The debate surrounding the Algerian boxer flares up again and again on social media at regular intervals. 

The athlete is accused of actually being a man and wrongly competing in the women's category. The accusations are paired with defamatory comments about the so-called "woke" Olympic Games and hatred of transgender women.

Back in September and October 2024, fact checks by the Australian Associated Press (APP) and Reuters, among others, refuted similar false allegations.

Retroactively disqualified

The WBO told the BBC in October 2024 that reports that Olympic champion Imane Khelif had been banned and stripped of her Paris gold medal because she had failed gender-specific fitness tests were "obviously false." 

Khelif, who was born on May 2, 1999, in Tiaret, Algeria, was excluded from the women's boxing world championships organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in March 2023 after her victory against the previously unbeaten Russian Azalia Amineva. She was disqualified retroactively.

According to the IBA, a "recognized" test had determined that Khelif had an advantage over other female competitors. Details of this were described as confidential and were not published. 

Dispute between the IOC and the IBA

Thomas Bach, who until this week was the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has repeatedly rejected criticism of Imane Khelif's gender identity. 

In October last year, he told the international press that both Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting were born and raised as women and competed in the women's category.

In an official statement dated August 1, 2024, the IOC criticized the "misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024." 

"These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA."

The IOC withdrew recognition of the International Boxing Association in 2023 after it had already been suspended since 2019 due to allegations of corruption. International sports jurisprudence confirmed the IOC's decision: The International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne rejected the IBA's appeal against this decision in April 2024.

From 2019 to 2023, the IOC organized the boxing competitions at the Olympic Games itself. After the final suspension, the World Boxing Association, founded in Puerto Rico in 1988, took over the organization. The WBO is one of the four major professional boxing associations that sanctions official fights and awards world titles in professional boxing.

Imane Khelif is extremely popular in her native Algeria and has been revered as a heroine since her Olympic victory at the 2024 Games in Paris. Khelif's success has not only influenced the sporting world. Her fans see her as an icon who challenges traditional roles and redefines femininity in sports.

Edited by: Rachel Baig